I've been reading various things about Naggum that have appeared in the last few days. It's changed my view of him. For example, I wouldn't write "consummate intellectual bully" to describe him anymore. He was more subtle than that (though his language was not) and had a kind of integrity that bullies don't. I hadn't read enough of him to grok this, but recent posts by his intelligent admirers caused me to take a deeper look. Truly a fascinating character.
Online communication is a limited medium that is prone to feedback loops of escalating misunderstanding. It's easy to slip into thinking that one is talking to a computer rather than another human being because, in a way, one is. At that point, why bother with anything other than the intellectual satisfaction of formulating what you have to say in the sharpest, most absolute way possible? Many of us are prone to this. Naggum took it to an extreme. I still think there's something to criticize here, but perhaps not in terms like nasty, cruel, etc. It has more to do with dissociation (as when the cognitive apparatus becomes disconnected from emotional or other information). Which is another something many of us are prone to.
One other point about Erik Naggum that deserves a little more attention than it's gotten: during much of the time he was writing this stuff he was suffering physically pretty badly. That's not an excuse, but it does change my picture of what was going on there.
Online communication is a limited medium that is prone to feedback loops of escalating misunderstanding. It's easy to slip into thinking that one is talking to a computer rather than another human being because, in a way, one is. At that point, why bother with anything other than the intellectual satisfaction of formulating what you have to say in the sharpest, most absolute way possible? Many of us are prone to this. Naggum took it to an extreme. I still think there's something to criticize here, but perhaps not in terms like nasty, cruel, etc. It has more to do with dissociation (as when the cognitive apparatus becomes disconnected from emotional or other information). Which is another something many of us are prone to.
One other point about Erik Naggum that deserves a little more attention than it's gotten: during much of the time he was writing this stuff he was suffering physically pretty badly. That's not an excuse, but it does change my picture of what was going on there.